A known rubber cone plug connector includes a cone-shaped rubber body tapering towards the contact side which, for establishing a high-voltage connection, is inserted into the socket until a front side of the rubber body abuts against an edge of the socket. The rubber body first needs to be adjusted exactly in order that a defined pressure gets the cone to abut. For manufacturing the rubber body the cable end portion is partially stripped, machined by metal-cutting, then caoutchouc rubber is wound around the cable end portion and is vulcanized to the same; however, this method is very time-consuming and costly. For the assembly the rubber cone further needs to be greased before the plug connector is inserted into the socket, in order to obtain a reliable high-voltage seal between the rubber cone and the receptacle. However, the grease evaporates over time, is absorbed by the rubber or age-hardens; furthermore, the cable material slackens due to aging. A regular time-consuming maintenance is thus required for maintaining a reliable high-voltage seal, with the need to remove the old grease and to apply new grease and to check the adjustment and, if necessary, perform a re-adjustment.
Different rubber cone plug connectors are also known in which the high-voltage conductors are embedded directly into the rubber cone, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,419 and EP 0 938 759 B1, and thus the rubber cone does not enclose a cable end portion. The manufacture of these rubber cone plug connectors is time-consuming and costly.
Furthermore, a high-voltage plug connector comprising an insulator made of a casting resin is known, in which the insulator is manufactured using vacuum high-temperature casting in a casting mould, machined, coated, pasted into the plug connector housing and bonded and potted to the machined cable end portion in a non-porous and gap-free manner. The thermosetting insulator can no longer be removed out of the plug connector housing or from the cable end portion for repair purposes or maintenance purposes. In order to guarantee a gap-free abutment to the socket, additional measures need to be taken between the insulator and the socket for obtaining a sufficient high-voltage seal. This high-voltage plug connector neither requires maintenance nor adjustment, but is very cost-intensive, susceptible to damage and it cannot be repaired.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,486 A discloses a high voltage electrical connector assembly having a first connector with socket terminals matable with a second connector having pin terminals. The socket terminals are disposed in respectively gradually tapered silos of elastomeric material, and the second connector is formed of rigid dielectric material to include silo-receiving recesses surrounding the pin contact sections of the pin terminals. Upon completion of connector mating, the silos are longitudinally compressed at leading end portions, and thereby become radially expanded to tightly engage inner surfaces of the silo-receiving recesses and establish compression seals to define sealing of the mating interface against voltage leakage paths that otherwise would permit generation of corona.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,097 discloses a termination for a high-voltage shielded cable, comprising a pre-fabricated, metallic dielectric stress relief member of frustoconical shape and an insulating member of frustoconical shape complementary to the stress relief member. Tightening of a collar compresses the frustoconical insulating member against the cable insulation to hermetically seal the cable termination.
EP 0 487 025 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,471 disclose related high-voltage connectors.
It is the object of the invention to provide a maintenance-free connector component ensuring a permanent safe high-voltage connection, a high-voltage connector, and a method of manufacturing the same, where the manufacturing, maintenance and repair effort are significantly reduced.